Federal Activities & Agencies

Supporting Research to Effectively Prevent, Diagnose, and Treat HIV

In the three decades since the first cases of AIDS were reported, Federal investments in basic, biomedical, behavioral, and social science research have led to numerous HIV prevention interventions and life-saving treatment.

Leading the Way in HIV Research

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the global leader in research to understand, prevent, diagnose, and treat HIV infection and its many associated conditions. NIH-funded researchers—in partnership with academia and the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries—have helped develop, test, and demonstrate the efficacy of more than 30 life-saving antiretroviral drugs and drug combinations for treating HIV infection. These antiretroviral drugs have transformed life with HIV infection for those who have access to and can tolerate treatment.

NIH has also supported other ground-breaking research, including the HPTN 052 study—called the scientific breakthrough of 2011 by Science magazine—which demonstrated that early treatment for HIV reduces the risk of HIV transmission to uninfected sexual partners by 96 percent while simultaneously improving health outcomes for people living with HIV. In addition, the NIH-supported START trial demonstrated that those with HIV who received immediate treatment significantly reduced their risk of illness and death.

Other key areas of NIH-supported research include studies to better understand the basic biology of HIV and the body’s immune response to HIV infection; design, develop, and test potential drugs for the prevention and treatment of HIV and its associated coinfections, comorbidities, and other complications; develop HIV cure strategies to control and eliminate the viral reservoir; and advance new HIV testing strategies and diagnostic tools. NIH also conducts and supports research on the development of new, effective, and affordable biomedical prevention strategies, such as the use of antiretroviral drugs and other agents for prevention; the development of safe, effective, and affordable HIV vaccines that can be used in combination with other prevention strategies; and strategies to better understand and address the risk behaviors and social contexts that can facilitate HIV transmission, acquisition, and disease progression.

Seeking a Cure for HIV

Research to find a cure for HIV/AIDS is also one of NIH’s overarching HIV/AIDS research priorities. In 2013, President Obama announced that NIH would redirect $100 million to launch an HIV Cure Initiative to further advance HIV/AIDS research with the hope of catalyzing a new generation of therapies aimed at curing HIV or inducing lifelong remission. HIV cure research includes studies to identify the precise locations where HIV hides in the body (known as viral reservoirs), to determine how those reservoirs are established and maintained, and to develop strategies to minimize or deplete them. It also includes studies to develop a functional cure whereby the virus would not eliminated, but controlled and suppressed.

Research to Prevent HIV Infection and Transmission

With the ultimate goal of ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic as we know it, NIH continually develops and supports the research infrastructure and scientific expertise needed to enable innovative approaches aimed at halting the spread of HIV through effective and acceptable prevention strategies and a safe and effective vaccine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also provides national leadership for HIV prevention research, including the development of biomedical and behavioral interventions to prevent HIV transmission and reduce disease progression in the United States and internationally. CDC’s research efforts include identifying scientifically proven, cost-effective, and scalable interventions and prevention strategies to be implemented as part of a high-impact prevention approach for maximal impact on the HIV epidemic.

Advancing the National HIV Priorities through Research

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy: Updated to 2020 calls for numerous ongoing research efforts, including the prioritization and promotion of research to fill in gaps in prevention science among the highest risk populations and communities; the promotion and prioritization of research to fill in gaps in knowledge along the HIV care continuum; the scaling up of effective, evidence-based programs that address social determinants of health; support for research to better understand the scope of the intersection of HIV and violence against women and girls, as well as the development of effective interventions; and the strengthening of the timely availability and use of data. Across the Federal government, agencies and programs are engaged in these efforts.

Scroll down to read about the HIV research activities of individual agencies and offices.

Federal Agencies' Research Activities

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) produces evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and works within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used to achieve the goals of better care, smarter spending of health care dollars, and healthier people.

AHRQ produces numerous research reports on public health, including the Congressionally-mandated National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report, which include sections on HIV/AIDS and its effective treatment.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works 24/7 to protect America from health, safety, and security threats. CDC provides leadership in helping control the HIV/AIDS epidemic by working with community, state, national, and international partners in surveillance, research, and prevention and evaluation activities, as well as working to improve treatment and support for people living with HIV.

CDC provides national leadership for HIV prevention research, including the development and evaluation of HIV biomedical and behavioral interventions to prevent HIV transmission and reduce HIV disease progression in the United States and internationally. CDC’s research efforts also include identifying those scientifically proven, cost-effective, and scalable interventions and prevention strategies to be implemented as part of a high-impact prevention approach for maximal impact on the HIV epidemic.

Department of Defense

The mission of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. Within the DoD, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP) is at the forefront of the battle against HIV to protect U.S. troops and reduce the global impact of the disease. Since its inception in 1986, MHRP has become a world leader in HIV vaccine research, threat assessment, epidemiology, HIV diagnostics, and cure research. The program works in six sites in Africa and Asia. While its primary focus is developing a globally effective vaccine, the program also provides prevention, care, and treatment in each of the communities in which research is conducted through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). MHRP is centered at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), a command within the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command.

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products, and medical devices. FDA is also responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.
FDA's broad based, multi-disciplinary research programs have played a significant role in the development of vaccines, therapeutic agents, and test kits for use in HIV/AIDS and HIV-related conditions. This research includes work on HIV infection and vaccine models for its prevention, and studies of the immune response to HIV, as well as conducting, planning, or consulting on epidemiology studies of the role devices or radiation play in the transmission, prevention, detection, or treatment of HIV infection and closely associated conditions.

FDA also plays a role in overseeing cure research for HIV, ensuring that risks are out of proportion to the potential benefits, and that patients who are willing to enter into HIV clinical trials are aware of the potential risks that may be associated with different approaches, particularly for patients who are on stable, effective drug therapies.

National Institutes of Health

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency—making important medical discoveries that improve health and save lives. NIH-funded scientists investigate ways to prevent disease and conduct research on both common and rare diseases to discover their causes, develop effective treatments, and find cures. NIH represents the largest and most significant public investment in HIV/AIDS research in the world. Almost all of the 27 NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) conduct and support basic, clinical, behavioral, social science, and translational research that addresses the prevention and treatment of HIV disease and its associated coinfections, comorbidities, and other complications.

NIH’s Office of AIDS Research (OAR) coordinates the scientific, budgetary, legislative, and policy elements of the trans-NIH HIV/AIDS-related research programs. OAR, a component of the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the NIH Director, supports the development of up-to-date HHS guidelines for the treatment of HIV infection, and the prevention and treatment of HIV-associated opportunistic infections. The guidelines are developed and regularly updated by working groups of HIV experts from across the country, including physicians, other health care clinical providers, pharmacists, researchers, and HIV treatment advocates. These clinical guidelines outline the current science and recommendations for treatment of HIV disease (e.g., antiretroviral therapy, treatment, and prophylaxis for opportunistic infections) as well as guidelines for conducting HIV testing and counseling.

Within NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) leads research to understand, treat, and prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Through laboratories and clinics on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and a vast network of supported research at universities, medical centers, and clinical trial sites around the globe, NIAID is working to better understand HIV and how it causes disease, find new tools to prevent HIV infection including a preventive vaccine, develop new and more effective treatments for people with HIV, and hopefully, find a cure.

In addition to NIAID, NIH is made up of 26 other Institutes and Centers. Each has its own specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems, and most address HIV/AIDS in some way, according to their particular area of expertise.

Many Federal agencies have developed public awareness and education campaigns to address HIV prevention, treatment, care, and research. In this section, you’ll find a snapshot of these Federal HIV campaigns and links to help you access more information as well as campaign materials that you can use. Also included is information about campaigns related to the prevention and diagnosis of hepatitis B and C.

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